Toronto FC head coach Robin Fraser was a skilful defender during his playing days and he\u2019s proving to be a skilful defender as a manager, at least in terms of defending his players.<\/p>\n
That was apparent on Friday when Fraser was asked about the club\u2019s first-year forward Josh Sargent, who arrived in Toronto from Norwich City in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old American scored an impressive 56 goals in 157 appearances for The Canaries over five seasons but has yet to find the back of the goal this season for Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sargent has made one start over two appearances for a TFC side that has managed only six regular-season goals in five games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my mind he\u2019s playing extremely well and for us it\u2019s been about trying to get him physically in a position where he can do that for all season,\u201d said Fraser. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason for not throwing him (in games) from the beginning.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s building his strength, his agility, all the things he needs to remain healthy throughout the year.”<\/p>\n
Toronto fans would love to see Sargent break out on Saturday against the Colorado Rapids at BMO Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of what he brings us, you can already see his intelligence in his defending, his technical ability in attack, composure, experience \u2026 we see all those things every day,\u201d Fraser said. “If your question is, ‘When\u2019s he going to score?,’ I have very little doubt that he is going to score soon and certainly the hope is once he starts, he doesn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
After starting the MLS campaign with two losses, the Reds have recorded points in their last three matches, including a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Crew on March 21.<\/p>\n
With seven straight regular-season games scheduled for BMO Field, Fraser said it\u2019s crucial for his club to go on a roll.<\/p>\n
\u201cI choose to see it as an opportunity to get ahead,” he said. “You take care of your home games and by the time this homestand is over we should be in a pretty good position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto will have its hands full with the resurgent Rapids, a club with three wins and two defeats in five games. Under new head coach Matt Wells, Colorado has scored 11 goals – the second-highest goal tally in the MLS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re good, they\u2019re young, they\u2019re energetic (and) they occupy some interesting positions in their buildup,\u201d said Fraser, who was the head man in Colorado from 2019 to 2023. \u201cThey play with a ton of energy, they get a lot of pressure. They\u2019re a good group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forward Rafael Navarro leads the way for the Rapids with three goals. Colorado is coming off a 4-1 victory over Kansas City on March 21.<\/p>\n
TFC has failed to make the MLS playoffs since 2020 but appear to be heading in a positive direction this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re just scratching the surface (in terms) of the potential this team has,\u201d said goalkeeper Luka Gavran, a native of Hamilton, Ont. \u201cI was disappointed in how we played in the first two games because it didn\u2019t really show how we did in the pre-season. So, for us to bounce back with two wins and a tie … this team has so much more.”<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s match will mark the return of defender Kosi Thompson, who was acquired by the Rapids from TFC last week for up to $400,000 in general allocation money.<\/p>\n
First-year left back Matheus Pereira (groin) has yet to play a game for Toronto FC this season but Fraser said he is available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto FC head coach Robin Fraser was a skilful defender during his playing days and he\u2019s proving to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-580401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}